If wishes were horses, even beggars could ride

The Grand Mufti of the Stealth Jihad: Zuhdi Jasser Says “There’s No Greater Threat” Than Pamela Geller and Her Colleagues

Jasser and his ilk are not moderates. They are liars.

In one fell swoop, “moderate Muslim” Zuhdi Jasser has dropped a MOAB* on the most effective counter-jihadists in the West. The Grand Mufti of the Stealth Jihad has devoted an entire episode of his show on The Blaze Network, “Reform This!” to smearing me and many of my colleagues, including Robert Spencer, Andrew Bostom, Clare Lopez, John Guandolo, and others, as “alt-jihadists.” He even says “there are no greater jihadists than the alt-jihadists when it comes to living in the land of freedom. Because they seem to be wanting to kill us and knock us off at the knees.”

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser is a decent man conflicted by what he wishes to be mainstream Islamic reality, as manifested in doctrine and practice since the creed’s 7th century foundation, through the present.

Dr. Jasser gave a one hour interview with Pamela Geller that aired on 5/22/2007, which must be heard in its entirety to understand his Weltanschauung, as well as his predicament — and ours.

Although Dr. Jasser made some noble comments, and expressed views certainly worth championing, there were unsettling aspects of some of his statements and arguments. Dr. Jasser’s apologetics regarding Islamic Jew-hatred and misogyny were counterfactual. Such comments are delusive at best, perhaps out of Dr. Jasser’s apparent genuine embarrassment regarding the tenets of mainstream Islam as practiced since its advent.

From minutes 20:00 through 27:30, Jasser’s discussion of Islamic Jew hatred is punctuated by ahistorical and doctrinally false apologetics (including “Golden Age” mythology; ridiculous claims about “bad Koranic translations”…etc.), possible taqiyya about what “allowing” a Muslim man to marry a Jewish woman actually means — it is not “ecumenical,” i.e., Jasser fails to acknowledge that a Jewish woman married to a Muslim man must allow the children to be raised as Muslims. Jasser then asserts that I share a “Wahhabist/Al Qaeda interpretation” of Koranic Jew hatred at 26:30-26:50. Specifically, Jasser objects stridently to what he claims are,

…the [Koranic] passages that Mr. Bostom and others are insisting on taking the interpretations of the Wahhabists…I will not allow my faith to be interpreted by Al Qaeda or the Wahhabists [i.e., like Mr. Bostom does]

Again at minutes 58:00 to 59:00 of the audio, Jasser asserts Islam has a “respect for Judasim” for Jews apparently self-evident “in the way we’re raised…on how we read our scripture”:

Interviewer: “Islamic Antisemitism is irrefutable…”

Jasser: “I will not accept that Antisemitism is part of Islam…the vast majority [emphasis added] of Muslims have a respect for Judaism that is ingrained in the way we’re raised…on how we read our scripture.”

Interviewer: “That statement you made is opposite to reality.”

In addition, Dr. Jasser offers an apologetic for Islamic misogyny at ~ minutes 44:00 to 47:00 of the interview. For a better grounded discussion of Islamic misogyny, see Ibn Warraq’s “Lifting the veil of tears,” and Reza Afshari’s “Egalitarian Islam and Misogynist Islamic Tradition: A Critique of the Feminist Reinterpretation of Islamic History and Heritage.”

Jasser’s claims about Islamic Jew hatred are thoroughly debunked in this lengthy presentation “Antisemitism in the Qur’an: Motifs and Historical Manifestations”, April 7, 2008 which demonstrates exactly how the greatest classical Koranic commentators in Islam — who antedated the “Wahhabi” movement by 500 to 1000 years — interpreted the Koranic verses on Jews discussed during the interview. And the late Grand Imam of Al Azhar — the Sunni Muslim Pope, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, who was not a “Wahhabi” — wrote a 700 pp. treatise that concurred with these Jew-hating interpretations of the classical Koranic commentators.

The essential nature of the Qur’ranic “revelation,” as understood by Muslims, was elaborated in 1891 by Theodore Nöldeke (whose seminal 1860 Geschichte des Qorans remains a vital tool for Qur’ranic research): “To the faith of the Muslims…the Koran is the word of God, and such also is the claim which the book itself advances…”

And to this day, as the contemporary Qur’anic scholar Ibn Warraq notes, for all believing Muslims, and not merely “fundamentalists, ” the Qur’an remains Allah’s “uncreated” words, “…valid for all times and places; its ideals are, according to all Muslims, absolutely true and beyond any criticism.”

The Qur’anic depiction of the Jews — their traits as thus characterized being deemed both infallible and timeless-highlights, in verse 2:61 (repeated in verse 3:112), the centrality of the Jews “abasement and humiliation”, and being “laden with God’s anger,” as elaborated in the corpus of Muslim exegetic literature on Qur’an 2:61, including the hadith and Qur’anic commentaries. The terrifying rage decreed upon the Jews forever is connected in the hadith and exegeses to Qur’an 1:7, where Muslims ask Allah to guide them rightly, not in the path of those who provoke and must bear His wrath. This verse is in turn linked to Qur’anic verses 5:60, and 5:78, which describe the Jews transformation into apes and swine (5:60), having been “…cursed by the tongue of David, and Jesus, Mary’s son” (5:78). Moreover, forcing Jews, in particular, to pay the Qur’anic poll tax “tribute,” (as per verse 9:29) “readily,” while “being brought low,” is consistent with their overall humiliation and abasement in accord with Qur’an 2:61, and its directly related verses.

An additional much larger array of anti-Jewish Qur’anic motifs build to a denouement (as if part of a theological indictment, conviction, and sentencing process) concluding with an elaboration of the “ultimate sin” committed by the Jews (they are among the devil’s minions [Qur’an 4:60], accursed by God [Qur’an 4:47]), and their appropriate punishment: If they do not accept the true faith (i.e., Islam), on the day of judgment, they will burn in the hellfire (Qur’an 4:55). As per, Qur’an 98:7: “The unbelievers among the People of the Book and the pagans shall burn forever in the fire of Hell. They are the vilest of all creatures”

After presenting a full spectrum of the major anti-Jewish motifs in the Qur’an, additional illustrations demonstrating their persistent influence on Muslim attitudes (and resultant behaviors) towards Jews, are provided. Four themes are considered, and their historical application illustrated, across space and time, through the present: (I) the Jews being associated with Satan and consigned to Hell (Qur’an 4:60, 4:55, 58:14-19, and 98:6); (II) the imposition of the Qur’anic poll-tax (jizya; Qur’an 9:29) on Jews, specifically, and (III) the related enforcement of the Qur’anic (2:61) “curse” upon the Jews for killing the Prophets, and other transgressions against Allah’s will, meriting their permanent humiliation and abasement; and, last in connection to this curse, (IV) the Jews’ transformation into apes/swine, as punishment (Qur’an 2:65, 5:60, and 7:166).

The contemporary case of Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, author of a 700 page scholarly treatise rationalizing Muslim Jew hatred, Banu Isra’il fi al-Qur’an wa al-Sunna [Jews in the Qur’an and the Traditions], and current [note: died in March 2010] Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University, demonstrates the prevalence and depth of sacralized, “normative” Jew hatred in the contemporary Muslim world. Even if all non-Muslim Judeophobic themes were to disappear miraculously overnight from the Islamic world, the living legacy of anti-Jewish hatred, and violence rooted in Islam’s sacred texts-Qur’an, hadith, and sira-would remain intact. The assessment and understanding of Islamic antisemitism must begin with an unapologetic analysis of the anti-Jewish motifs contained in these foundational texts of Islam.

In one fell swoop, “moderate Muslim” Zuhdi Jasser has dropped a MOAB on the most effective counter-jihadists in the West. The Grand Mufti of the Stealth Jihad has devoted an entire episode of his show on The Blaze Network, “Reform This!” to smearing me and many of my colleagues, including Robert Spencer, Andrew Bostom, Clare Lopez, John Guandolo, and others, as “alt-jihadists.” He even says “there are no greater jihadists than the alt-jihadists when it comes to living in the land of freedom. Because they seem to be wanting to kill us and knock us off at the knees.”

That’s right: “No greater jihadists” than me and my colleagues.

“Alt” means Nazi. He knows exactly what he is doing.

Who even knew he had a show on The Blaze? No one. Why is Glenn Beck giving this vicious saboteur a platform? Jasser did this deliberately, knowing it would blow up — that speaks volumes about his character and his true motives.

But some people are endlessly eager to be fooled. Frank Gaffney immediately wrote to a group of us whom Jasser targeted, telling us to hold off in the interest of peacemaking! It was striking how quickly Gaffney jumped to Jasser’s defense. (I’ve never seen him jump to my defense like that.) What a step-and-fetch-it boy Gaffney is for Jasser. This epitomizes how much people who recognize the jihad threat have been fooled into thinking they have to have moderate Muslims on board or their efforts will be criticized by the left as “islamophobic.” The left is going to say that anyway, no matter what they do.

As for me, I didn’t start this war, and I’m not going to let Jasser’s lies just sit out there unchallenged. It is Jasser who has thrown down the gauntlet (again) — the idea that he is defending himself against attacks, as Patrick Poole claimed on Twitter, is nonsense.

I was right about Jasser all along. When I interviewed Jasser back in 2007, he could not answer my questions about how the “immutable” word of the Quran could be radically reinterpreted, or about the fact that such “reformation” or “reinterpretation” is punishable by death. In other words, you can’t have your private little Islam. Period.

And then when he referred to Israel as occupied territory in the last five minutes of the interview, he blew his cover. Further, Jasser claimed that Islamic antisemitism didn’t exist in the interview as well.

In 2011, I published an article in the American Thinker entitled “Where Are All the Jassers?,” in response to an attack on me by Jasser in which he claimed, as he does now on his Blaze show, that I was aiding the “Islamists.” Read that article. In it, I show how dishonest Jasser is about what the Qur’an says about Jews, and about beating disobedient women, and more.

In this new attack, Jasser’s whole premise is false. We are “alt-jihadists” for pointing out how jihadists use Islamic teachings as their motivation and impetus? So those who told the truth about the Nazis were just like the Nazis, because they were reinforcing the Nazis message? He admits that Islamic government and the most respected Islamic institutions do not reflect his interpretation of Islam, but then he hits us for noticing the same thing. He wants us not to believe reality, and instead to embrace a fantasy that has failed catastrophically post-9/11.

Why did not one, but two mosques throw him out? Jasser says of me: “She peddled lies that I was kicked out of my mosque and that when I confronted her on it in the piece she blamed Andrew Bostom. And now she just last month retweeted again, saying that I was kicked out of my mosque twice now. When in fact I’ve talked about pieces in which the clerics at our imam called me up from the pulpit and I then responded publicly with editorials in our state newspaper, pushing back into the face of the cleric at our Scottsdale mosque the sermon that called me out because of my criticism of Hamas. Yes, I’ve taken them on. But I’ve never been kicked out of my mosque.”

Lies? My source is an Arizona physician who knows Jasser personally. Jasser is able to sidestep this because he may have been affiliated with several mosques. If the information I received was inaccurate, he should say so, but he doesn’t precisely do that, and my source is trustworthy. But Jasser, desperate to defame, immediately makes this about me lying.

Here is another truth that Jasser doesn’t want aired about: his organization is minuscule. Where is the invisible giant movement of his? And why has he not prevailed and gained a huge Muslim following in the wake of the unfathomable bloodshed for which jihadis are responsible, if that bloodshed were so very un-Islamic? He has no significant following among Muslims, and is not going to get one. He is much more popular among non-Muslims who are just aching to be fooled.

Jasser and his ilk are not moderates. They are liars. There’s a difference. Jasser proves that on his show when he cites Alija Izetbegovic as an example of a Muslim reformer. In his “Islamic Declaration,” Izetbegovic said: “Muslim nations will never accept anything that is explicitly against Islam…He who rises against Islam will reap nothing but hate & resistance…” “The first & foremost of such conclusions is surely the one on the incompatibility of Islam & non-Islamic systems. There can be no peace or co-existence between the ‘Islamic faith’ & non-Islamic societies & political institutions…” “The Islamic movement should & must start taking over the power as soon as it is morally & numerically strong enough to not only overthrow the existing non-Islamic, but also to build up a new Islamic authority.”

HOW TO TALK TO ZUHDI JASSER WHEN YOU HAVE TO…….

TT compadre, Warren Raymond, goes head to head with Islamopologist (‘moderate’ Islam peddler) Zuhdi Jasser, concerning the latter’s call for the Obama administration to protect the ‘Rohingya’ Muslims of Burma.

Fibber Zuhdi Jasser: Please read and disseminate our full report from USCIRF after our trip to Burma in August 2014 reviewing our findings of the horrible religious freedom situation there. On the eve of President Obama’s upcoming trip to Burma our findings will be particularly relevant. Will President Obama even use the word “Rohingya”? Will he continue to praise their “political progress” while ignoring the plight of religious freedom especially for Muslims and Kachin Christians? Read our report and hold our President and media accountable.

Everywhere you look in the world, in the present age and in times past, Muslims have been waging their jihad on indigenous peoples, wiping out their cultures, traditions, moral codes and systems of jurisprudence. What we see in Burma, are indigenous peoples (Buddhists) fighting back against the non-indigenuous Islamic horde, and while the violence carried out is entirely regrettable, such a gross violation of national sovereignty should never be rewarded with a de facto state of their own.

Here’s the exchange:

Warren Raymond“Rohingya” is an invention just like the “Palestinians” were invented after 1967. They are Bengal Muslim invaders. If they are legitimised, they will wipe out the Buddhists of Burma, just like they wiped out the Buddhists of Afghanistan and India.

M Zuhdi JasserWarren Raymond all nations have challenges with immigrant populations with regards to national security and identity. Read our full report. Your comments and Burma’s chauvinistic solutions will not work and are inhumane. These are Muslims who have been Burmese for generations. To deny them religious freedom and agency is a crime and violates all standards of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We saw little to no evidence of any penetration of AQ, MB, JI, or Wahhabism or petro-radical Islamist movements in the groups ideologies we met nor evidenced provably by Burma’s government. If there is a disenfranchised community of Muslims in the world from both the west and the Islamists of the OIC, it is the Rohingya Muslims of Burma. This in no way minimizes any national security risks any groups like Islamists may pose, but you should know that Burmese chauvinism and criminal religious discrimination serves only to put jet fuel into Muslim separatism and radicalization to the extent that it exists at all in Burma. To deny them all religious freedom and agency after they have been in Burma for generations is not only a failed strategy but inhumane.

Warren RaymondThe humanity of Muslims is legendary, Zuhdi. In Pakistan and Bangladesh they prove it daily. The Turks proved it with the Armenians and Iran does it every day with the Christians and the Bahai. Considering that unbelievers are the ‘vilest of beasts’ and sons of apes and swine and that in that ideology only Muslims are considered ‘human’ I prefer the injustice of eviction to legitimising the invasion. “Rohingya” is not a people, they have no history, no king, no coinage and no land, they are Bengali Muslims, nothing else. Their claim is based on fraud and deception. Nothing, except the law of allah entitles them to settle in Burma, and their ‘disenfranchisement’ is of their own making. It always is, because in Burma the Muslims are no different from anywhere else. They are illegal settlers in a land where they have committed many crimes. I have been to Burma, I have seen their mosques and I have seen no difference to what they do elsewhere. “Penetration of AQ, MB, JI, or Wahhabism or petro-radical Islamist movements” may not be as strong as elsewhere because they are being closely watched, but it is clearly there. There are many Arabs strutting their stuff, which means the petrodollar jihad is in full swing.

M Zuhdi JasserWarren Raymond there is no rational way to respond to your blanketed deception and hate for all Muslims. Regardless of the truth or fiction of your stereotype, as a strategy it’s doomed to failure arguing for an endgame that attempts to convert all Muslims 1/4 of the world out of Islam. Your inhumane un-American generalizations about all Muslims includes me, my family and all our supporters and anti-Islamists…Muslims like the majority of Egyptians who threw out the MB. Your ideas are doomed to fail and stand against everything America stands for.

Warren RaymondA very stereotypical Muslim response, Zuhdi. Let nothing deter you from advancing the Islamic expansion program, or is it pogrom?

M Zuhdi JasserWarren Raymond you just proved your fascism. Calling my work advancing a pogrom is the summit of disinformation. I’m done here.

Warren RaymondProjection is the first and last refuge of the scoundrel, Zuhdi. I don’t hate, I care. I care for my society, for my culture, for my civilisation and for my people. Not for the blood-cult of Islam, not for a culture of savagery, deception and destruction, Islam has no redeeming features, all of it has to go. Advancing the Mohammedan agenda for the Bengal invaders against the Buddhists makes it clear which side you’re on. I don’t think you have any divided loyalties, you are simply playing for time. Jihad by demographics….